Beating the weather (Part 1)

As promised, here’s my first installment on weather… It’s easy to fly when the weather is perfect – but how often does that occur? Unless you’re based in Palm Springs, probably not very often. So what can you do to get where you need to go, when you need go, and do it safely?

A little background first – I have a pilots certificate (government speak for “license”) that authorizes flight under Visual Flight Rules, or VFR. Basically, this means that I can fly day or night as long as I do NOT fly into a cloud or go above 17,999 feet. So, when there are low clouds, fog, mist, or precipitation I cannot launch. This has definitely been a challenge and most people admit that while you can do business VFR, it will dramatically improve your reliability if you can operate under Instrument Flight Rules, or IFR. The IFR pilot has much more flexibility and dispatch reliability is over 90% (depending on the season and where you live) as opposed to my personal record of 61%. As much as I desire the IFR certificate, I haven’t had the time to pursue one yet.

So, how do I cope…that’s part 2!


Clear skies and tailwinds!
Mike